Five days after missing a field goal that would have pushed the Bears into the second round of the NFC playoffs, Bears kicker Cody Parkey made an appearance on NBC’s “Today.” In a five-minute interview Friday morning with hosts Savannah Guthrie, Hoda Kotb and Craig Melvin, Parkey discussed his failed 43-yard kick, the support he received from teammates afterward and his approach to processing the disappointment.

“I’ll continue to keep my head held high,” Parkey said. “Because football is what I do. It’s not who I am.”

Predictably, Parkey’s appearance became a lightning rod for those who saw the veteran kicker as a noble pro owning up to his error and those wondering just what exactly he was trying to accomplish by reliving the “Double Doink” in the national spotlight.

Bears writers Dan Wiederer and Rich Campbell have plenty to say on the appearance in an emergency session of “Real Talk.”

Wiederer: Forgive me, Rich, if I seem a bit out of sorts. My scalp is a wee bit raw from scratching it so hard this morning. I still have no idea what Parkey was trying to accomplish with that. If it was a play for sympathy from suburban moms nationwide, then perhaps he hit the bull’s-eye. Otherwise? Whoa.

As I said on Twitter even before the interview started, the whole idea of making a morning-show appearance so soon after such a devastating loss felt incredibly tone-deaf to me. We’re not even a week removed from the Bears’ 16-15 loss to the Eagles that abruptly demolished their legitimate Super Bowl hopes. That’s far, far, far too early to be taking a “handling failure well” victory lap.

How about just handling failure well?

Campbell: Your scalp is raw, and I have whiplash from shaking my head. Each second of Parkey’s appearance was more unbelievable and astonishing than the last.

Let’s make one thing very clear: The Bears did nothing to facilitate this national TV appearance. This was an independent look-at-me move arranged by Parkey and his representatives. Parkey was not alone in losing Sunday’s game. But the other 42 players who played in that mega-failure seem to have a much better clue about the deference and humility appropriate following such a colossal disappointment.

Now let’s make a second point clear: Sorry, Savannah, you weren’t in that postgame locker room like we were. Parkey did not answer every question. He sat slumped at his locker and was more than happy to get out of Dodge when a team PR representative cut off his interview as reporters were shouting more questions.

Then on Monday during the Bears’ final media session of the year, Parkey was nowhere to be found despite media requests to speak to him. He had no interest until national TV came calling. But, hey, he and his wife got to wave to the camera on “Today.”

Wiederer: Let’s be clear here. The folks at “Today,” with full agreement from Parkey and his camp, just took one of the more devastating moments in Chicago sports history and drowned it in Velveeta.

Still, under all that thick and gooey cheese, there’s a sharp torment, a deep emptiness that won’t soon go away. And it’s not only Bears fans feeling it. To your point, 42 other players participated in that painful playoff loss. Many of them did their jobs better than Parkey, who, as a kicker, had one primary responsibility. To make kicks.

Yet to my knowledge, Parkey is the only one who has made an appearance on a morning show. What was the point of that? I seriously can’t figure it out.

Campbell: I was shocked Savannah didn’t hand him a pretty blue participation ribbon. “Congrats, Cody, you played in the NFL playoffs! Even scored nine of your team’s 15 points!”

I was similarly surprised the Bears didn’t precede his TV appearance with a transaction requiring him to be introduced as a former Bears kicker. Just give it time, I suppose.

Lest our discussion be misconstrued as one big meatball take, we can wholeheartedly acknowledge there can be grace in failure. Sports not only entertain us, they do teach life lessons about handling adversity, teamwork and commitment. To that point, I give Parkey’s teammates, the ones who publicly supported him, my nominations for MHT.

Instead of exalting Parkey, let’s remember we’re talking about professional sports here. It’s big business with sky-high stakes. Jobs that depend on other people doing theirs. This isn’t the Chicago Sport and Social Club where we all go get beers and quesadillas afterward.

On the elevated stage of pro sports, you know what other life lessons there are? The importance of dependability and reliability. In many run-of-the-mill jobs that aren’t guaranteed $9 million like Parkey is, it’s about much more than showing up and trying hard. It’s about more than saying, “Aw, shucks, I’ll get ’em next time.’ It’s about performing well in competitive circumstances. About being dependable and reliable.

It's about: Do. Your. Job.

Wiederer: Since you brought up the Chicago Sport and Social Club leagues, is now an inappropriate time to bring up my 2003 CSSC coed flag football championship run? Or would it be better for me to remind folks how well I handled our playoff loss the next season?

Anyway, back to Cody Parkey …

I know our audience is smart enough not to misconstrue this discussion as mean-spirited contempt. Think of it more as constructive criticism. And again, to be perfectly clear, I applaud Parkey for being able to process his failure with a certain amount of grace and resolve. He didn’t blame the snap or the hold or the wind or even the give of the goalposts. He didn’t blame the linemen who helped allow his kick to be tipped. He owned up to his misfire. And his push to move forward rather than wallow in disappointment or self-pity is admirable. To some extent.

I just think many people have an issue with the odd self-congratulatory vibe of an appearance like Friday morning’s. Ten months ago, the Bears guaranteed Parkey $9 million to do his job. Sunday’s season-ending miss wasn’t his first stumble. It was his 11th missed kick in 17 games and the sixth to hit the upright.

“As a kicker, you live for those moments,” Parkey said.

As a kicker, you also have to live with the results.

Campbell: This situation sends my mind back to Mitch Trubisky’s work with author Sam Walker, the Wall Street Journal’s leadership columnist. In Walker’s book “The Captain Class,” he profiles leaders of the best teams in sports history. He identifies a common thread among them: How they embrace so-called “work in the shadows.”

“It’s work in the shadows,” Trubisky said in August, “so you don’t talk about it, and you don’t always have to take credit for it. It has to go without saying. You don’t tell everybody how many hours you’re putting in watching film. How much you’re taking care of your body. It’s between me and what I call the grind. You get out what you put in. Not all of it has to be talked about or said.”

In my eyes, that’s the admirable approach. That’s the lesson I appreciate. Work without the need for credit or attention. Find an intrinsic value in working behind the scenes for your teammates and the people you let down. And this is where Parkey really loses me.

I’d give him much more credit for handling failure if he just put his head down and quietly went back to work. I’m not saying he needs to spend every day of his offseason practicing field goals. That would be silly. This is a time to regroup. To recalibrate mentally and physically. Come back next season capable of improving.

If Parkey’s purpose for going on “Today” was to present himself as an example of how to gracefully handle failure, I’d submit a more effective avenue would have been to do it without calling attention to himself like he did. As Khalil Mack says: “Don’t talk about it. Be about it.”

Wiederer: On my third viewing of the “Today” spot, I laughed out loud at the chyron: “Cody Parkey Speaks Out.” Uhhhhh … what? Speaks out? On what?

Then I laughed out loud at Guthrie’s syrupy verbal hug. “The reason you’re here and the reason we’re so excited to talk to you,” she said, “is because of the kind of person that you are and everything you did after that kick.”

Too. Much. So over the top. This can’t be what Parkey was going for.

Either way, you can bet Friday’s appearance won’t sit all that well with many of the players, coaches and executives at Halas Hall. And if we’re forecasting Parkey’s future as a Bear, it’s incredibly difficult to envision general manager Ryan Pace bringing him back next season. For that kind of money, the Bears need a guy who can be more than the “Today” crew’s MHP.

An attempt to make things work going forward would be impractical or, worse, forced. In this case, the Bears need reliability more than anything.

Campbell: If Parkey had gotten that field goal over the Eagles line and through the uprights, the Bears would be flying to Los Angeles on Friday. If he hadn’t missed wide right in overtime against the Dolphins on Oct. 14, the Rams or Cowboys would be flying to Chicago, and there would be playoff football at Soldier Field this weekend.

Instead, it will be at least nine months until Parkey has a chance to answer his season-long failures with an in-game performance. Friday morning’s TV spectacle is one of several reasons his redemption story simply can’t be set in Chicago.